Detergent composition



United States Patent 3,414,520 DETERGENT COMPOSITION Francis Robert Maxwell McDonnell, Bebington, England, assignor to Lever Brothers Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Maine No Drawing. Filed Apr. 21, 1965, Ser. No. 449,895 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 27, 1964,

' 17,276/ 64 6 Claims. (Cl. 252-110) This invention relates to soap powders and in particular to spray-dried soap powders.

Soap powders are usually produced by spray-cooling although it is generally considered that crisper, better flowing and better looking powders can be obtained by spray-drying. One disadvantage of spray-dried soap powders is a tendency for the powder to float and form clots on the surface when added to water.

Another disadvantage of soap powders as generally formulated is that in hard water calcium soap is deposited on fabrics washed with soap powder and this deposit builds up with each wash. It has been found that the build-up of deposit can be reduced by incorporating in the soap powder from 2.5 to 20%, preferably from 10 to 15% by weight of the final product, of sodium tripolyphosphate.

The sodium tripolyphosphate is conveniently incorporated in a spray-dried soap powder by addition to the slurry to be spray-dried. Spray-dried soap powders containing sodium tripolyphosphate have been found to have the disadvantage of forming a scum when used at low concentrations in hard water at temperatures suitable for hand washing e.g. about 40 C. This scum manifests itself during the making up of the wash solution. Nonphosphated spray-cooled soap powders do not form such a scum.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a spray-dried sodium tripolyphosphate-containing soap powder with a reduced tendency to float and form surface clots on addition to water.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a spray-dried sodium tripolyphosphate-containing soap powder with a reduced tendency to form scum when used in hard water at low concentrations at about 40 C.

It has been found that these objects can be obtained by incorporating in the spray-dried sodium tripolyphosphatecontaining soap powder from 1-10%, preferably from 3-5%, by weight of the final product of a neutralised sulphation product of an ethylene oxide adduct, containing a polyethylene oxide chain of up to 20 ethylene oxide units, preferably 1 to 5 ethylene oxide units of a C1042 aliphatic alcohol, where the neutralising cation is an alkalimetal, ammonium or substituted ammonium, for example, triethanolammonium, ion. The additive can be incorporated either by addition to the spray-dried soap powder or, if it is stable, to the spray-drying process, by addition to the slurry to be spray-dried. Examples of suitable additives are sodium tallow alcohol, 1, 4, or 20 EtO sulphate (the sodium salts of the sulphation products of the condensation products of 1, 4, 10 or 20 moles of ethylene oxide with 1 mole of tallow alcohol); and sodium lauryl alcohol 3 EtO sulphate (the sodium salt of the sulphation product of the condensation product of 3 moles of ethylene oxide with 1 mole of commercial lauryl alcohol). The alcohol employed in the production of the sulphated adduct may be natural or synthetic, straightchain or branched, primary or secondary. For economic reasons it is preferred to employ the sodium salts of adducts of readily available alcohols such as tallow alcohol.

The term soap as used herein refers to alkali metal ice soaps of the saturated and unsaturated higher fatty acids having from about eight to about twenty-six carbon atoms, such as capric, caprylic, lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, arachidic behenic, margaric, tridechoic, and cerotic acids and the mixtures of such acids nautrally occurring in fats, oils, waxes, and rosins, such as the soaps of coconut oil fatty acids, tallow fatty acids, pig fat, fish oil fatty acids, beeswax, palm oil fatty acids, sesame oil fatty acids, peanut oil fatty acids, olive fatty acids, palm kernel oil fatty acids, cottonseed oil fatty acids, soyabean oil fatty acids, corn oil fatty acids, babassu oil fatty acids, abietic acid, and greases. The fat charge employed in the production of soap for soap powders generally consists mainly of tallow and other animal fats. These give principally palmitic, stearic and oleic salts. The invention is particularly applicable to soap powders based on these salts.

The invention provides a spray-dried soap powder comprising by weight of the powder;

from 30 to 60% preferably from 45 to 55% of soap;

from 2.5 to 20% of sodium tripolyphosphate;

from 1 to 10 of 'a neutralised sulphation product of an ethylene oxideadduct, containing a polyethylene oxide chain of up to 20 ethylene oxide units, of a C aliphatic alcohol, where the neutralising cation is an alkalimetal, ammonium or substituted ammonium ion.

Preferably the spray-dried soap powder contains by weight of the powder from 10 to 15% of sodium tripolyphosphate. The spray-drying operation can result in degradation of the sodium tripolyphosphate in part to sodium pyrophosphate and sodium orthophosphate and it is to be understood that in this specification reference to the content of sodium tripolyphosphate in a spray-dried soap powder includes the degradation products produced during the spray-drying operation.

The preferred amount of neutralised sulphation product in the compositions of the invention is from 35% by weight of the spray-dried soap powder.

The spray-dried powders of the invention are suitably prepared by forming a slurry of all the heat-stable ingredients with a nominal water content of about 35% and spray-drying the slurry to a water content of about 16% or slightly less. The components not stable to spraydrying are then added to the spray-dried material.

The invention is illustrated by the following examples.

EXAMPLE 1 Spray-dried powders of the composition given in Table I were tested by the procedure described below. All the components, with the exception of the sodium perborate, were incorporated in the slurry prepared for spray-drying. A commercially available non-phosphated spray-cooled soap powder was used as a first control and a spray-dried 4.5 grams of each powder was added to 2.25 litres of water of 24 hardness (that is, 24 parts of CaC'O per 100,000 parts of water) in a bowl at 40 C. The powder was added in 3 separate additions of 1.5 grams with an interval of 30 seconds between each addition, the water being vigorously agitated by hand between each addition. The amount of scum formation was noted. The results for each composition are shown below in Table II.

This example demonstrates that as far as scumming is concerned, compositions according to the invention behave similarly to a conventional spray-cooled soap powder on addition to hard water at 40 C. and better than a similar composition without additive.

EXAMPLE 2 an ethylene oxide adduct, containing a polyethylene oxide chain of up to 20 ethylene oxide units, of a C1042 aliphatic alcohol where the neutralising cation is an alkali-metal, ammonium or substituted ammonium ion.

2. A spray-dried soap powder according to claim 1 containing by weight of the powder from 45 to 55% of soap.

3. A spray-dried soap powder according to claim 1 containing 'by weight of the powder from 10 to 15% of sodium tripolyphosphate.

4. A spray-dried soap powder according to claim 1 where the neutralised sulphation product contains from 1 to 5 ethylene oxide units.

5. A spray-dried soap powder having a reduced tendency to form scum when used in hard water and a reduced tendency to form surface clots when added to water, said powder consisting essentially of by weight of the powder:

from 45 to 55% of soap;

from to of sodium tripolyphosphate;

. s td -i d powders Of the composition given in from 3 to 5% of a neutralised sulphation product of ample 1 containing a number of different sulphated addi- Y OXlde addllct, colltalnlflg a h yhy tives according to the invention and nonionic additives OXlde Cham P P 1 t0 5 ethylene OXlde were compared in respect of their floating and clotting a 10 22 allphatlc alcohol Where the Helltfahslflg properties. The results are shown in Table III below. 25 catlon 1s a sodium lon.

TABLE III Floating Clotting Additive Water temp., 0. Before After Surface Under swirling swirling Water Sodium tallew alcohol 5 EtO sulphate 40 3-4 1-2 0 0 60 3 1 l 1 0 Nonyl phenol 11 EtO 4t) 4 2 1 0 60 4 2 2 0 Sodium tallow alcohol 1 EtO sulphate 40 2 2 1 0 60 1 1 0 1-2 Sodium lanryl alcohol 3 EtO sulphate 40 3 2 0 0 60 3 2 1-2 0 Nonyl phenol 12 EtO 40 3-4 3 3 0 60 3-4 3 3 0 Tallow fatty acid monoethanolanlide 40 3-4 2 3 2 0 4 B 3 0 Spray-dried powder without additive (control) 40 4 3 2-3 0 60 4 3 3 0 1=trace, 2=slight, 3=moderate, 4=considerable.

This example demonstrates that compositions according to the invention are superior to similar compositions containing a nonionic additive both in respect of the reduction in floating and the reduction in surface clotting achieved by comparison with the control spray-dried powder without any additive.

I claim:

1. A spray-dried soap powder having a reduced tendency to form scum when used in hard water and a reduced tendency to form surface clots when added to water, said powder consisting essentially of by weight of the powder:

from 30 to 60% of soap;

from 2.5 to 20% of sodium tripolyphosphate;

from 1 to 10% of a neutralised sulphation product of 6. A spray-dried soap powder containing from 3% to 5% by weight of the neutralised sulphation product defined in claim 1.

References Cited LEON D. ROSDOL, Primary Examiner.

B. BETTIS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SPRAY-DRIED SOAP POWDER HAVING A REDUCED TENDENCY TO FORM SCUM WHEN USED IN HARD WATER AND A REDUCED TENDENCY TO FORM SURFACE CLOTS WHEN ADDED TO WATER, SAID POWDER CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF BY WEIGHT OF THE POWDER: FROM 30 TO 60% OF SOAP; FROM 2.5 TO 20% OF SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE; FROM 1 TO 10% OF A NEUTRALISED SULPHATION PRODUCT OF AND ETHYLENE OXIDE ADDUCT, CONTAINING A POLYETHYLENE OXIDE CHAIN OF UP TO 20 ETHYLENE OXIDE UNITS, OF A C-10**-22 ALIPHATIC ALCOHOL WHERE THE NEUTRALISING CATION IS AN ALKALI-METAL, AMMONIUM OR SUBSTITUTED AMMONIUM ION. 